efa_power: Power analysis for exploratory factor analysis

In EFAtools: Fast and Flexible Implementations of Exploratory Factor Analysis Tools

Power analysis for exploratory factor analysis

Description

Analyses power for exploratory factor analysis, in one of two modes chosen with mode.

mode = "rmsea" (the default) gives the analytic power of the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) tests of close and not-close fit (MacCallum, Browne, & Sugawara, 1996). Give a sample size to get the power of the test, or give a target power to get the sample size needed to reach it.

mode = "simulation" runs a Monte-Carlo study: it draws n_datasets samples from a known population (via efa_simulate()), analyses each one, and reports how well the analysis recovers that population. See Details for what is reported.

Here the number of variables is p and the number of factors is k (elsewhere in the package: n_vars and n_factors).

Usage

efa_power(
  mode = c("rmsea", "simulation"),
  type = c("close", "notclose"),
  eps0 = NULL,
  eps1 = NULL,
  N = NULL,
  p = NULL,
  k = NULL,
  df = NULL,
  alpha = 0.05,
  power = NULL,
  group = 1,
  Lambda = NULL,
  Phi = NULL,
  Psi = NULL,
  R = NULL,
  n_datasets = 500,
  criteria = c("EKC", "MAP"),
  estimator = "PAF",
  rotation = NULL,
  recovery_threshold = 0.95,
  model_error = c("TKL", "CB", "WB", "none"),
  target_rmsea = NULL,
  target_cfi = NULL,
  seed = NULL
)

Arguments

mode	character. The kind of power analysis: "rmsea" (the default; analytic RMSEA power) or "simulation" (Monte-Carlo hit-rate and structure recovery). type, eps0, eps1, df, alpha, power, and group apply to RMSEA mode only; the arguments marked Simulation mode below apply to the other; N, p, and k are used in both.
type	character. The RMSEA test: "close" (test of close fit) or "notclose" (test of not-close fit). See Details.
eps0	numeric. The null-hypothesis RMSEA. Default is 0.05.
eps1	numeric. The alternative-hypothesis RMSEA (the true RMSEA power is evaluated at). Default is 0.08 for type = "close" and 0.01 for type = "notclose".
N	numeric. In "rmsea" mode, the total sample size across groups (the plain sample size when group is 1): give N to compute power, or leave it NULL to solve for the required N at a target power. In "simulation" mode N is required and is the size of each drawn sample, with no sample size solved for and no group division.
p	numeric. The number of observed variables. In "rmsea" mode, used with k to derive df when df is not given directly. In "simulation" mode it is read off the population, so leave it unset (or matching nrow(Lambda) / nrow(R)).
k	numeric. The number of factors. In "rmsea" mode, used with p to derive df when df is not given directly. In "simulation" mode it is the true number of factors: it is required with an R population and must be left unset (or match ncol(Lambda)) with a factor-model population.
df	numeric. The model degrees of freedom. Either supply df directly or supply both p and k, from which df = ((p - k)^2 - (p + k)) / 2. Must be positive.
alpha	numeric. The significance level. Default is 0.05.
power	numeric. The target power. Give power (or leave both power and N NULL, defaulting to 0.80) to solve for the required N; leave it NULL while giving N to compute power. Exactly one of N and power is solved for.
group	numeric. The number of groups. Default is 1. N is the total across all group groups, not the size of each one, and a solved N is a multiple of group. See Details.
Lambda	matrix. Simulation mode. A p by k_true population loading matrix. Supply this (optionally with Phi/Psi) to build a factor-model population; structure recovery is available only with this form. Passed to efa_simulate().
Phi	matrix. Simulation mode. The k_true by k_true population factor intercorrelations. Only used with Lambda; defaults to orthogonal factors. When rotation is unset, an oblique Phi selects a "promax" recovery fit and an orthogonal one a "varimax" fit.
Psi	numeric or matrix. Simulation mode. The population unique variances (a length-p vector or a p by p matrix). Only used with Lambda. Passed to efa_simulate().
R	matrix. Simulation mode. A p by p population correlation matrix to draw from directly, instead of a factor model. Structure recovery is not available for this form (there are no population loadings to recover), and k is required.
n_datasets	numeric. Simulation mode. The number of samples to draw and analyse. Default is 500.
criteria	character. Simulation mode. The factor-retention criteria to evaluate the hit-rate for, any of "CD", "EKC", "HULL", "KGC", "MAP", "NEST", "PARALLEL", and "SMT" (see efa_retain()). Default is c("EKC", "MAP"). Criteria that simulate internally ("CD", "HULL", "NEST", "PARALLEL") make each run substantially slower.
estimator	character. Simulation mode. The estimator ("PAF", "ML", or "ULS") used for the recovery fit and the retention criteria. Default is "PAF".
rotation	character. Simulation mode. The rotation for the recovery fit, passed to efa_fit(). Default is NULL, which matches the population: "varimax" for orthogonal factors and "promax" for oblique ones (a single factor is left unrotated). Recovery aligns the fitted loadings to the population pattern by permutation and sign only. A rotation that does not seek that structure – for example "none" with more than one factor – will understate recovery, so keep the default (or another structure-seeking rotation) for a meaningful recovery rate.
recovery_threshold	numeric. Simulation mode. The matched-factor Tucker congruence a replicate must reach to count as recovered. Default is 0.95: Lorenzo-Seva and ten Berge (2006) treat congruence at or above this level as indicating the same factor.
model_error	character. Simulation mode. The efa_simulate() method that perturbs the population with model error: "TKL" (Tucker-Koopman-Linn, the default here), "CB" (Cudeck-Browne), "WB" (Wu-Browne), or "none" for an exact population. It only takes effect when a target is supplied (target_rmsea and/or target_cfi), and only for a factor-model population; without a target the population stays exact whatever the method. "TKL" adds minor common factors, giving a realistically imperfect population but lowering both the hit-rate and structure recovery; "CB" and "WB" target the RMSEA only. "CB" keeps the population loadings as the exact minimizer of the perturbed population, so recovery stays close to perfect; "WB"'s loadings are not the minimizer, so they carry no such guarantee. Note that efa_simulate() itself defaults to "CB": the same target_rmsea passed to both functions gives an easier population there, unless model_error is also set explicitly here.
target_rmsea	numeric. Simulation mode. The population RMSEA the model should have relative to the perturbed population, activating model error. Default is NULL. Passed to efa_simulate().
target_cfi	numeric. Simulation mode. The population CFI target (only with model_error = "TKL"). Default is NULL. Passed to efa_simulate().
seed	numeric. Simulation mode. Optional seed making the draws and analysis reproducible and worker-count independent; the caller's random-number stream is restored afterwards. Default is NULL.

Value

An object of class efa_power. For mode = "rmsea", a list containing:

power	The power of the test at N (the achieved power, which for a solved sample size is at least the target).
N	The total sample size across groups: the supplied N, or the solved required sample size (a multiple of group).
N_per_group	The per-group sample size N / group, equal to N when group is 1. A whole number for a solved N; for a supplied N that is not a multiple of group it is the fraction that the noncentrality uses.
crit	The critical chi-square value the fit statistic is compared against.
ncp	The noncentrality parameters under the null (H0, from eps0) and the alternative (H1, from eps1).
solve_for	"power" or "N", recording which quantity was solved for.
settings	A list of the inputs: mode, type, eps0, eps1, df, p, k, alpha, group, and the target power (the value solved to when solve_for is "N", otherwise NULL).

For mode = "simulation", a list containing:

hit_rate	A named numeric vector of the retention hit-rate per criterion (and, where a criterion has several variants, per variant); NA for a criterion that returned no suggestion on any replicate.
hits	A data frame with one row per criterion (criterion) giving the number of replicates it returned a definite suggestion on (n_valid), the number of those that matched k_true (hits), and the hit_rate (hits / n_valid).
recovery	For a factor-model population, a list with the structure-recovery rates (min_rate, mean_rate), the threshold, and the number of usable fits (n_valid); NULL for an R population. Rates are over every replicate whose fit returned loadings, including non-converged or Heywood solutions (their rates are reported separately in convergence).
convergence	A list with the number of datasets (n_datasets), the number of fits that completed (n_fit_ok), how many of those converged (n_converged) and how many produced a Heywood case (n_heywood), and the corresponding rates: fit_rate (fits completed, over all datasets) and convergence_rate / heywood_rate (converged / Heywood, over the completed fits).
replicates	The raw per-replicate values: the suggested factor counts (n_hat), the matched congruences (rec_min, rec_mean), the converged, heywood, and fit_ok flags, and fit_error, the message of the fit that did not complete (NA where it did).
k_true	The true number of factors.
model_error	The efa_simulate() model-error record, or NULL.
settings	A list of the simulation inputs.

RMSEA mode

Power rises with a larger sample, a larger model (more degrees of freedom), and a bigger gap between the null and alternative RMSEA (MacCallum, Browne, & Sugawara, 1996).

Two tests are supported, chosen with type (never by the order of eps0 and eps1):

"close"

Tests close fit (MacCallum et al., 1996). The null hypothesis is that the fit is close (RMSEA \le eps0; conventionally 0.05). Power is the chance of detecting a worse alternative (eps1; conventionally 0.08, so eps0 < eps1), in the upper tail.

"notclose"

Tests not-close fit. The null hypothesis is that the fit is not close (RMSEA \ge eps0). Power is the chance of detecting a better alternative (eps1; conventionally 0.01, so eps0 > eps1), in the lower tail.

When eps0 and eps1 are in the wrong order for the chosen type, a message is shown but the requested test still runs. Equal eps0 and eps1 leave nothing to detect and are an error.

Power always increases with N, so the required sample size (the smallest N reaching power) is found by bisection. N is the total sample size across groups: with group > 1 the power calculation divides by group (the 1 / group factor), so spreading a fixed total over more groups gives less power. The matching per-group sample size, N / group, is returned as N_per_group.

The 1 / group factor makes all group groups the same size, so a required total is rounded up to the next multiple of group. A solved N_per_group is thus a whole number of persons, and the reported power is the power at a total that a study can collect. With group = 2 and df = 102, for example, the required total is 260, or 130 per group. Bisection on the total alone gives 259, which asks for 129.5 persons in each group.

Simulation mode

The population is passed to efa_simulate(), which draws n_datasets samples of size N from it. The population's true number of factors, k_true, is ncol(Lambda) for a factor-model population, or k for a bare R. By default the population fits the factor model exactly, which overstates how well the criteria and the fit recover its structure; setting a misfit target makes the population more realistic (MacCallum, 2003).

Each replicate is analysed three ways:

Hit-rate

The share of replicates where a criterion's suggested factor count (from criteria) matches k_true. A replicate where the criterion errored or gave no answer is left out of this count – it does not count as a miss.

Structure recovery (factor-model populations only)

The k_true-factor model is fitted with efa_fit(), its loadings are matched to the population loadings, and the matched-factor Tucker congruences (Lorenzo-Seva & ten Berge, 2006) are compared with recovery_threshold. A replicate succeeds when its smallest (min) or average (mean) matched congruence reaches the threshold.

Convergence

Among the replicates whose fit completed, the share that converged and the share that produced a Heywood case.

A replicate whose fit fails completely is not counted in any of the three measures above. If any fit fails, a warning reports how many failed and the cause of the first failure.

Replicates are analysed in parallel with future.apply; choose a parallel plan with future::plan(). Each replicate uses its own reproducible random-number stream, so with a fixed seed the result does not depend on the number of workers, and the caller's random-number state is left unchanged.

References

MacCallum, R. C., Browne, M. W., & Sugawara, H. M. (1996). Power analysis and determination of sample size for covariance structure modeling. Psychological Methods, 1(2), 130-149. \Sexpr[results=rd]{tools:::Rd_expr_doi("10.1037/1082-989X.1.2.130")}

MacCallum, R. C. (2003). 2001 Presidential Address: Working with imperfect models. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 38(1), 113-139. \Sexpr[results=rd]{tools:::Rd_expr_doi("10.1207/S15327906MBR3801_5")}

Lorenzo-Seva, U., & ten Berge, J. M. F. (2006). Tucker's congruence coefficient as a meaningful index of factor similarity. Methodology, 2(2), 57-64. \Sexpr[results=rd]{tools:::Rd_expr_doi("10.1027/1614-2241.2.2.57")}

See Also

efa_simulate() draws the replicate datasets used in simulation mode. efa_retain() implements the retention criteria whose hit-rates simulation mode reports.

Other power analysis: plot.efa_power(), print.efa_power()

Examples

# Power of the test of close fit at N = 200 for a 100-df model
efa_power(df = 100, N = 200)

# Deriving df from the model dimensions instead of giving it directly
efa_power(p = 20, k = 3, N = 200)

# Required total sample size for 80% power
efa_power(df = 100, power = 0.80)

# Test of not-close fit
efa_power(df = 100, N = 200, type = "notclose")


# Simulation mode: retention hit-rate and structure recovery for a known
# three-factor population at N = 300
efa_power("simulation", Lambda = population_models$loadings$baseline,
          Phi = population_models$phis_3$moderate, N = 300,
          n_datasets = 50, criteria = c("EKC", "MAP"), seed = 42)

EFAtools documentation built on Aug. 21, 2026, 5:16 p.m.